Fibromyalgia Impact Reduction Using Online Personal Health Informatics: Longitudinal Observational Study

Area of Science:

• Digital health interventions
• Personalized medicine
• Chronic pain management

Background:

• Personal health informatics can empower patients with personalized management strategies.
• Fibromyalgia (FM) requires individualized approaches, potentially informed by health data analysis.
• An online health diary with feedback was developed for FM patients to identify effective symptom management strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate longitudinal associations between using the SMARTLog health diary program and the functional impact of FM.
• To measure changes in the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) scores in relation to program utilization.

Main Methods:

• 76 FM patients used the "SMARTLog" online diary to record symptoms and management strategies.
• Individualized feedback ("SMARTProfile") was generated based on user data analysis.
• Kendall tau-b correlation assessed associations between program use (SMARTLogs completed, SMARTProfiles received) and monthly FIQ scores.

Main Results:

• Significant inverse associations were observed between FIQ scores and both cumulative SMARTLogs completed (tau-b=-0.135, P<.001) and SMARTProfiles received (tau-b=-0.133, P<.001).
• Users completing ≥61 SMARTLogs showed an 18.9% drop in FM impact (mean FIQ 49.9).
• Users receiving ≥11 SMARTProfiles showed a 15.9% drop in FM impact (mean FIQ 51.8).

Conclusions:

• Increased utilization of the SMARTLog program was associated with significant reductions in the functional impact of fibromyalgia.
• The findings highlight the effectiveness of user-friendly, relevant self-management digital health tools for chronic conditions.
• Clinically significant improvements were observed, shifting FM impact from severe to moderate among high-usage users.